CrucibleElementsofDrama analysis by Julie Faulkner

Taking a Closer Look: The Crucible

Objective: Analyze character traits through examining elements of drama

By Julie Faulkner, 2013
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Julie-Faulkner

About this resource: In this classroom tested exercise, students read passages from Act 1 regarding Abigail.
They decide whether the passage is an example of stage directions, monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, or an aside.
Then they must determine which type of characterization the author used. Finally, students decide what this
passage shows the reader about Abigail's true colors. I wanted something that bridged the idea of the author's
tools of characterization with the elements of drama, so this activity was born. The students must not only
recognize the element of drama in context, but also they must analyze it for characterization.

Suggestions: The passages are from Act 1, so it would be a great follow up activity/lesson for that act. Plus, it is
a graphic organizer, making it an applicable tool for differentiating learning. If your students are unfamiliar
with the author’s tools of characterization or elements of drama terms, consider doing a quick review lesson.
Click the links below for the ones I use.

Common Core links:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama
(e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of
American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.A
Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s)
from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims,
reasons, and evidence.

Taking a Closer Look: The Crucible

Objective: Analyze character traits through examining elements of drama

Characterization is when the author gives us clues as to who characters really are. Character traits can be
revealed through what the author tells us, what the other characters say about him/her, what the character does,
what the character says, or what the character thinks. Each type is important because it provides the reader with
different points of view and information about certain characters.

Directions: Closely read the passages below from Act 1 regarding Abigail. First decide whether the passage is

an example of stage directions, monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, or an aside. You may not use all the terms.

Then determine which type of characterization the author used (listed above). Finally, decide what this passage

shows the reader about Abigail’s true colors.

Passage from text Element of Characterization Character

Drama Type Trait

(He is bending to kneel again when his niece,
Abigail Williams, seventeen, enters – a

strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an

endless capacity for dissembling/stalling. Now

she is all worry and apprehension and
propriety.)

HALE: Soup? What sort of soup were in this

kettle, Abigail?
ABIGAIL: Why, it were beans—and lintels, I
think, and—

HALE: Mister Parris, you did not notice, did
you—any living thing in the kettle? A mouse,

perhaps, a spider, a frog---?

ABIGAIL: That frog jumped in, we never put it

in!

HALE: Abigail, it may be your cousin is
dying—Did you call the Devil last night?

ABIGAIL: I never called him! Tituba called

him!

ABIGAIL: Now look you. All of you. We
danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s
dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this—let

either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a

word about the other things, and I will come to

you in the black of some terrible night and I

will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder

you. And you know I can do it. I can make you

wish you had never seen the sun go down!

ABIGAIL: Give me a word, John. A soft word.

PROCTOR: I come to see what mischief your
uncle’s brewin’ now. Put it out of mind, Abby.
ABIGAIL: John—I am waitin’ for you every

night.
PROCTOR: Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll
not be comin’ for you more. You know me

better.

Constructed Response: Which element of drama allows the author to best develop a character? Explain your
answer with details and examples from the reading.

Answers:
#1) stage directions; what the author tells us; she is beautiful or what she does; her two-faced nature and ability
to “act” in any situation to fit her case
#2) dialogue; what she says; she is a liar
#3) monologue; what she says; she is vindictive and evil
#4) dialogue; what someone says about her; we find out about the affair or what she says; she admits her love

TPT Disclaimers:

The Common Core Standards were written and developed by The National Governors Association Center for
Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association
Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Any claims of correlation or alignment to the CCSS Standards are solely those of Julie Faulkner and have not
been evaluated or endorsed by The National Governors Association.